SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Some members of the Oakland School Board are lobbying for fellow members to support the demands of the Oakland teachers' union amid a fourth strike day.
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Due to an unfilled seat and a three-three split, the flip of just one board member could change the trajectory of the strike. Teachers have been demonstrating outside of Oakland public schools since Thursday, advocating for wages, resources, housing for homeless students and reparations.
Board members Valarie Bachelor, VanCedric Williams and Jennifer Brouhard are in favor of the teachers' demands.
"It's both a moral and fiscal imperative that we partner with our labor partners, the city and others to house our unhoused students and families," Bachelor encouraged.
Williams said it's time to force movement on reparations. "We've had a task force for over three years. Guess how much has gotten done? Zero," he urged.
"We're now negotiating contracts where we're including the community good and as a former teacher I know that all of these issues that are in the Common Good goals I saw in the classroom," said Brouhard.
34,000 students are impacted by the teacher walk out. The Oakland chapter of the NAACP has released a statement condemning the strike as a learning disruption and asking the union to call it off.
"We disagree with the decision to disrupt the critical end of year learning and activities while the parties are still negotiating," they wrote.
Elementary teacher Laura Conneko explained that the walk out is about so much more than compensation.
"That's the message that a lot of folks are getting is that teachers just want money and that's very needed, but it's not just that," she said. "We're bargaining for Common Goods, we're bargaining for safe schools for our students."
Monday night, OUSD Superintendent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell sent out a video message to students' families.
"I know this has been incredibly frustrating for our students and families," she stated. Johnson-Trammell promised that the district would "work around the clock to end this strike."
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